Search of remote Cape Breton hobby farm expected to last the week

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Michelle Marie Demers-Kennedy, was reported missing on Mother's Day 2013 after one of her sons called and she didn't answer the phone. (RCMP)

The RCMP and the medical examiner's office are searching a remote hobby farm in rural Cape Breton this week, looking for any trace of a woman who disappeared more than a year ago.

“The area where we're searching is very rural, dense woods, and of course it has … been a year. So, in that time that's passed it does make things difficult for us, however we're confident that in our efforts and our partnership with the medical examiner’s office that we will, hopefully, locate her remains,” said RCMP Sgt. Mark MacPherson.

Michelle Demers-Kennedy, 58, was reported missing on Mother's Day 2013 after one of her sons called and she didn't answer the phone. She was last seen ten days earlier on May 2, 2013.

Her son, Merlin Demers-Kennedy, was charged earlier this year with second-degree murder in her death.

Demers-Kennedy lived alone on a small hobby farm in a remote part of Richmond County.

When neighbours went to check on her in May 2013, they found her bedroom light still on, and a book left on her bed.

The RCMP and the Strait Area Ground Search and Rescue Team combed the area, but they never found her body.

Police have not said how they think she died, only that they believe it happened between May 2 and May 15 at her address.